Reina Fujita is an adventurous Tutorium student from Japan. On her Spring 2008 break, Reina traveled with a team of other US students to work with the poor in the southern state of Georgia. She volunteered through the organization called “Alternative Spring Break” (ASB) here on the UIC campus. The following is an interview with Reina about her volunteer experience. QUESTION: Why did you decide to volunteer for Alternative Spring Break? ANSWER: "I heard about one of the volunteer opportunities was going to help for homeless people at ASB's briefing. In addition, I thought it would be a good way to go to other U.S. state as well." QUESTION: Which city and state did you go to? ANSWER: "Atlanta, Georgia." QUESTION: What kind of work did you do there? ANSWER: "We were serving food, teaching internet skill and how to write resume for homeless people." QUESTION: How many people were in your group? ANSWER: "10 people." QUESTION: What countries were the people from in your group? ANSWER: "7 Americans, 2 from Egypt, 2 from India, 2 Korean, 1 Japanese ...and me." QUESTION: What did you learn that was important? ANSWER: "I could meet a lot of people through the volunteer, and I'd tried to speak to everybody. I did everything I could. The homeless people said to me, “thank you": in spite of my poor English. My heart wasn't "I don't care at all". My heart was "my pleasure." The most important thing is our heart. It is not knowledge, I think. I learned a lot of lessons in this trip. I really appreciated everybody. This feeling was priceless!" Tutorium: What advice would you give to future students who are interested in volunteering for this program? ANSWER: "First of all, open your mind! And don't hesitate if you can't speak English fluently. Nobody cares whether you can speak English well or not. I really enjoyed the trip!! My crew was awesome!! They were hilarious!!"